STM has demonstrated the teaming of the TOGAN scout UAV and KARGU kamikaze UAV with ASELSAN-SEFİNE MARLIN USV to neutralise drifting mines at a NATO event.
During the Innovation Continuum 2025 SHINE event held by NATO in Istanbul, STM demonstrated its USV-UAV teaming for mine countermeasures, specifically countering drifting mines.
The team, consisting of TOGAN scout UAV, KARGU kamikaze UAV, and MARLIN USV, performed detection, relay to command, and neutralisation.
MARLIN USV, acting as relay, provided the target information from TOGAN UAV using its electro-optics and a KARGU kamikaze UAV was sent to destroy the drifting mine target using its warhead.
So far, USVs have been proposed for mine countermeasures by teaming with smaller UUVs and the integration of onboard sensors. However, drifting mines’ amount and spread, especially in the Black Sea, pose a challenge to this concept optimised for the fewer and less spread subsurface mines.
STM’s concept of utilising kamikaze UAVs’ speed, low cost, and effects presents an alternative approach in this regard. A USV fitted with multiple UAVs, paired with higher-end UAVs carrying more potent sensors (e.g. ANKA or AKSUNGUR UCAV with SAR in addition to EO/IR), can apply what was demonstrated on a wider scale.
Author: Kaan Azman
Editor:Özgür Ekşi
